Arsene Wenger loves Arsenal and will be there for life, insists club's former star Robert Pires

Robert Pires believes Arsène Wenger will stay at Arsenal for life, despite his
former manager’s claim in a recent interview that he will consider his
future at the end of this season.

Confidant: Arsene Wenger is still in contact with former Arsenal winger Robert PiresPhoto: GETTY IMAGES

By Duncan White and Jeremy Wilson

8:42PM GMT 24 Nov 2011

“I think he will die with Arsenal,” Pires said. “He is the same as Ferguson at Manchester United or Guy Roux at Auxerre. He will stay with Arsenal, that is my opinion, because Arsenal need him and he needs Arsenal. C’est l’amour.”

Pires played 284 games for Wenger’s Arsenal between 2000 and 2006 and has remained in contact with him since joining Villarreal five years ago.

Pires, who was speaking at a special Wembley football match for fans and FA Cup legends convened by ESPN to mark its coverage of the FA Cup, said that Wenger had been “shocked” by the departure of key players this summer but that the period of crisis was over now.

“It has calmed down now and things are more relaxed for Arsène. In August he lost three important players for the club in Nasri, Clichy and Fabregas and I think that was a shock for Wenger. And for the fans too, of course.

“Every club in England has a period of crisis. At the beginning it was Arsenal and now it is Chelsea. I remember the day after Man Utd had lost 6-1 to City when everyone was saying United were finished. That is football, especially when you play for the big teams.”

Arsenal are unbeaten in their last nine matches in all competitions and rubber-stamped their progress to the Champions League group stage with Wednesday’s win over Dortmund.

Robin van Persie may have stolen the limelight with his remarkable goalscoring feats — his two goals against Dortmund took his tally for the calendar year to 44 — but just as significant have been the displays of Alex Song in central midfield.

The Cameroonian has given Arsenal some much-needed steel to supplement their more refined talents, and believes a cloud has been lifted on the season.

“We started very badly and it is not easy when you have new players coming in,” he said. “You need to give them time and we see that we are not like three or four months ago. We have very good cohesion. I think that is very important.

“When we started we lost two big players and it was not easy to have players like Cesc [Fabregas] and [Samir] Nasri missing.

"They were very important but in football it happens all the time. You need to forget about it and give confidence to the players you have got.”

“When we have everyone fit we are more strong and confident. When everyone comes back we will see another Arsenal play.”

That other Arsenal, according to Song, will be aiming to challenge the two Manchester clubs at the top of the Premier League.

“Maybe some people are very hard on Arsenal — I don’t know why,” he said. “When you play for a team like Arsenal you want to finish top of the league every time.

"We have the Carling Cup [against Manchester City] next week and we have to win every game.”

ESPN will continue its live televised coverage of this season’s FA Cup with two exclusive Second Round matches: Fleetwood v Yeovil at 7.30pm on Friday 2nd December and Sutton United v Notts County at 5pm on Sunday 4th December.